Moving To Biab

[fletcher]

is getting an electric urn any better? i've seen a few threads talk about them. i was looking at this:

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=2936

and wondered whether this would be much simpler than getting a bunch of things to poke into the wort for sanitary reasons etc, given i'm quite new. i was looking at pots too, and for the sizes i'm after they're CRAZY expensive. a decent SS 36L pot was $220 from my local chef's warehouse (don't know if they're just pricey though). i've seen ebay ones cheaper but they're still up around that price.

it seems if that urn has temp controller and such, that i'd be better spending that amount of money on that as opposed to the pot AND additional heaters etc etc. thoughts?

 

[fletcher]

oh and thanks for everyone's help so far. i really do appreciate it.

i'm just a bit worried about spending massive money on a stock pot to realise i then can't use it with my set up...or get one that's a bit small for 19L batches, to then have to replace it and spend more money...hence my million questions >.<

 

[RdeVjun]

Save yourself the mental anguish and all the malarkey- as suggested back at the start of this thread, grab your 19L stockpot and follow the $30 AG thread, when you're comfy with that, follow the 20L Stovetop thread for bigger batches. Do that for a few turns, by then you'll have a much better idea of just how long your particular piece of string is and where you should invest, while it only cost you 30 clams to find this out. That's a far cry from a few hundred skins for an urn or a big pot and a burner/ OTS element or even worse, a few grand for an automated single vessel system, only to find out that this All- Grain caper is not really for you.

 

[Nick JD]

Save yourself the mental anguish and all the malarkey- as suggested back at the start of this thread, grab your 19L stockpot and follow the $30 AG thread, when you're comfy with that, follow the 20L Stovetop thread for bigger batches. Do that for a few turns, by then you'll have a much better idea of just how long your particular piece of string is and where you should invest, while it only cost you 30 clams to find this out. That's a far cry from a few hundred skins for an urn or a big pot and a burner/ OTS element or even worse, a few grand for an automated single vessel system, only to find out that this All- Grain caper is not really for you.

Shhh! Nick's Used Braumeisters dot com is making a KILLING!

 

[Liam_snorkel]

My advice would be to bite the bullet & get an urn, then set up a keg system. It'll change your life.
What do kids say these days.. #YOLO?

 

[RdeVjun]

Shhh! Nick's Used Braumeisters dot com is making a KILLING!

:lol:
Ahh, so that's why retailers are twitchy!

 

[fletcher]

Save yourself the mental anguish and all the malarkey- as suggested back at the start of this thread, grab your 19L stockpot and follow the $30 AG thread, when you're comfy with that, follow the 20L Stovetop thread for bigger batches. Do that for a few turns, by then you'll have a much better idea of just how long your particular piece of string is and where you should invest, while it only cost you 30 clams to find this out. That's a far cry from a few hundred skins for an urn or a big pot and a burner/ OTS element or even worse, a few grand for an automated single vessel system, only to find out that this All- Grain caper is not really for you.

fair enough. you make a good point mate. thanks.

 

[flano]

I use an over the side element .
Works great ...do it outside.
Get leaves and rain and **** in the brew as a bonus.

$130.00 from my local HBS at Peakhurst.

 

[Blitzer]

I use an over the side element .
Works great ...do it outside.
Get leaves and rain and **** in the brew as a bonus.

$130.00 from my local HBS at Peakhurst.

Read somewhere that these increase boil off to like 35%? Is that some unfounded statement? If I use it in a 7l pot am I going to run it dry in 30 mins?

 

[Diesel80]

Fletcher,

for a pot check out your local Reward Distribution outlet (they provide wholesale catering / hospitality wares to restaraunts ect), google them up.

You can just turn up and setup a cash account on the spot.
Will cost you about $60-70 for a quality 40-50L Aluminium stock pot.

I can't remember exactly, must the the Alz kicking in.


Edit: this mob, www.rewarddistribution.com.au/

Cheers,
D80

 

[Sam England]

Fletcher, I jumped into AG as per D80's advice with an Aluminium 32L pot and knock out 25L BIAB brews. I would recommend at least 40L though as it's a bugger to monitor for boil overs. I've done this for a couple of years now and I'm now building a Braumiester clone to go to the next level. Total investment in gear was around $80 initially and I've just kept adding to it as I went.

Blitzer, the 35% depends on what volume you're starting with. 2400W will boil a standard batch quite well with reasonable evaporation, but if you're making 7L?? batches you'll have some sort of syrup left over after a 60min boil plus a cooked element unless you keep topping up.

Cheers,
BB

 

[bignath]

Read somewhere that these increase boil off to like 35%? Is that some unfounded statement? If I use it in a 7l pot am I going to run it dry in 30 mins?

Not unless you've only got 2lt's of wort in your 70lt pot....
Boil off as a percentage is not a constant. In the above example, of boiling 2lt's of wort for an hour...you'll be dry in a lot less time than that, which indicates boil off of over 100%.
Boil off percentage in my opinion is a useless figure, as it's completely dependant on the starting volume to calculate.
Boil off RATE is however, in most peoples systems a very constant figure. This figure will vary from one rig to the next though, due to the diameter of the equipment, but once you've worked out a rig's boil off, it's typically much the same from one batch to the next.
Example: you brew a recipe you've never done before. You're boil off is gonna typically be approx 5lt per hour... You really like the recipe, so you do it again, but this time you do a double batch. This time, you're boil off rate is gonna be the same, but the boil off % will pretty much be half of what it was for the single batch.
I seriously doubt 35% boiloff. Besides, even if the boil off is happening faster than expected, either turn the element off for a minute every 5 mins or so, or use it with a power attenuator/dimmer switch type thing to control the heating output.

Pretty nice looking element.

Immersion elements are one of the best additions a full volume boil brewer can have in their brewery.

 

[lukasfab]

[/quote]

would this thing do doubles in a 70l pot?

getting a 70l soon so need to sort out how I'm going to boil wort

 

[bignath]

would this thing do doubles in a 70l pot?

getting a 70l soon so need to sort out how I'm going to boil wort

I seriously doubt it.

I have an immersion element too, do 47lt preboil on a double batch, and the immersion stays on the whole time, and i cut in and out with a $8 kettle element as required.
Without the $8 element, the immersion will hold a really gentle simmer, but it's better with a second heat source.

Id still buy an immersion element, but if doing doubles, you'll need a second option too.

 

[fletcher]

I seriously doubt it.

I have an immersion element too, do 47lt preboil on a double batch, and the immersion stays on the whole time, and i cut in and out with a $8 kettle element as required.
Without the $8 element, the immersion will hold a really gentle simmer, but it's better with a second heat source.

Id still buy an immersion element, but if doing doubles, you'll need a second option too.

yeah i figure i'll need this + stove top to get a decent rolling boil on a 30+ litre effort

 

[flano]

I only do the 20 ltr pot with that element thingy.
I do 12 litres for mash in.
add a 6 litre sparge.
top up whats left from the bag squeeze with the sparge to nearly the top of the pot...then boil.

I have used it probably 40 times now.
Still going strong.

I reckon I lose about 10% maybe through evaporation.

I run a fairly loose ship though.

 

[flano]

Also
I reckon it would safely do a 30ltr pot .

dunno about much bigger though.

here it is in action.

for the record I dont sit it on that wooden table any more either.

 

[fletcher]

I only do the 20 ltr pot with that element thingy.
I do 12 litres for mash in.
add a 6 litre sparge.
top up whats left from the bag squeeze with the sparge to nearly the top of the pot...then boil.

I have used it probably 40 times now.
Still going strong.

I reckon I lose about 10% maybe through evaporation.

I run a fairly loose ship though.

so you end up with about 20 litres in total at the end to ferment? or 19/18/17ish? that's doable for me, or am i reading you wrong?

 

[flano]

so you end up with about 20 litres in total at the end to ferment? or 19/18/17ish? that's doable for me, or am i reading you wrong?

no I use a 20 litre pot.

I end up with about 18 litres of wort after the BIAB mash process and sparge.

Probably only have about 14 or 15 litres at the end of the boil.

I just top up to approx 20 litres in the fermenter.

Depending on how strong I want my beer to be.

 

[fletcher]

ah cool. thanks.